v5.1.0

Release Notes

• Vision runtime is included — no separate download needed.
• Tesseract OCR is auto-installed or uses bundled tesseract.js fallback.
• Use Download Base Models after install to enable AI features.
• Windows: the Setup installer is the recommended download and updates itself. The -win-x64.zip runs without installing: extract it once to a short folder such as C:\StratoSort and start StratoSort Stack.exe; it does not auto-update.
• Windows artifacts are Authenticode-signed.
• macOS builds are Developer ID-signed, notarized by Apple, and stapled.
• See the Install Guide for Windows, Mac & Linux — one download, no CLI.

[5.1.0] - 2026-10-31

Faster, more predictable Windows startup and a zip instead of the self-extracting portable exe.

Known issues

• Every download is 57 to 82 MB larger than 5.0.0 (the Windows x64 installer is 735 MB instead of
  671 MB) because the build packed the project's webpack build cache, documentation images, sources
  and tests into app.asar next to the app. The app never loads these files. Fixed in 5.1.1.

Security

• minimatch 10 → 11.0.3 for GHSA-g3hv-75wg-m249 (denial of service via globparts amplification).

Changed

• Windows: the self-extracting portable exe (StratoSortStack-5.0.0-win-x64.exe), which
  unpacked the whole app into %TEMP% on every start, is replaced by
  StratoSortStack-5.1.0-win-x64.zip. Extract it once and run StratoSort Stack.exe from the
  extracted folder; like the portable exe, it does not update itself. The Setup installer is still
  the recommended download.
• The AI engine remembers the GPU backend that worked (gpu-backend-cache.json in the app's data
  folder) and tries it first on the next launch. An app update, a different GPU or graphics driver
  version, a change in the GPU runtimes node-llama-cpp finds (such as installing a CUDA toolkit), or
  14 days make it run the full backend search again. The optional embedding worker
  (STRATOSORT_ENABLE_EMBEDDING_WORKER) uses the same record and supported-backend filter.
• The Windows x64 build no longer ships node-llama-cpp's arm64 prebuilt (about 11 MB).
• Each build ships only its own SQLite (better-sqlite3) native binary instead of the ones for
  every platform: about 15 MB less on macOS, about 12 MB on Linux, and one 2 MB file less on
  Windows. In 5.1.0 these savings are outweighed by the known issue above.
• On Windows and macOS the app no longer forces Chromium's enable-gpu-rasterization and
  enable-zero-copy switches, so Chromium's per-driver GPU blocklist applies. Linux keeps forcing
  them, as before.
• After three GPU process exits in one session, software rendering now stays on for up to 3 days
  (.gpu-fallback in the app's data folder) instead of switching back on the next launch, which
  made launches alternate between slow and fast on a failing driver. Delete the file while the app
  is closed to retry hardware acceleration sooner.

Fixed

• Windows startup: the window is shown at most 4 s after it is created even when its first frame is
  late, and at once when the GPU process exits before then; the AI engine waits for the first paint
  (up to 3 s); GPU backends whose runtime libraries are missing are skipped instead of test-loaded;
  the GPU is probed once per launch; and checks of the Documents Uncategorized folder give up
  after 3 s.
• Starting the app while it is still shutting down (for example right after Quit) now opens it
  again once the shutdown has finished, instead of doing nothing.
• Settings → Application → Check for updates on a copy that cannot update itself (the extracted
  Windows zip, a Microsoft Store install, or a Linux build other than the AppImage) now explains why
  instead of reporting "Failed to check for updates". With auto-updates disabled it now says so
  instead of "Checking for updates…".